Chapter 233: A Name in the Metadata

Freya had learned not to treat every new discovery as the answer. By the time a name in the metadata entered the investigation, she had already seen too many clues become less mysterious once someone checked the records properly. So when Derek brought the latest report, she listened without interrupting and asked him to separate what had been verified from what was still interpretation.

A metadata field inside the recovered record contains the name Marianne Cole, a researcher nobody in the current team recognizes.

The distinction immediately changed the mood in the room. Louis wanted to know who had access, Claire wanted to understand the old Crosswind architecture, and Mercer was already thinking about how the evidence could be tested without contaminating it. Freya cared about all three questions, but she refused to let urgency become permission to skip steps. Copies were preserved, timestamps were checked, and every person who handled the material was documented.

That approach had become almost routine. It was strange to think that mysteries involving predictive manuscripts and abandoned research systems could have a routine, yet Freya preferred it that way. Routine meant nobody was running through dark corridors because a chapter title sounded frightening. Routine meant lawyers, forensic images, meeting notes, and people admitting when they did not know something.

Archived employment records show Marianne was a temporary Crosswind data engineer who left shortly before Nathan Vale began his unauthorized WAKE experiments.

The investigation team also agreed that no one would reconstruct missing material merely to satisfy curiosity. A gap in the evidence would remain a gap until an authentic source filled it. Freya considered that rule essential. Too many people in the past had turned assumptions into facts simply because a complete story felt more comfortable than an incomplete one.

Freya carried the thought with her into the rest of the day. Awake Stories had contracts waiting for approval, while Sunroom's project calendar was becoming increasingly crowded. She refused to cancel ordinary work simply because Crosswind had produced another puzzle. If the mystery demanded attention, it could take a scheduled portion of her time like everything else.

Mia approved of that philosophy mostly because it meant Freya still appeared at The Open Page often enough to help when the store became busy. She knew only the non-confidential outline of the investigation and had stopped asking whether every strange event was connected to the manuscript. Instead, she asked practical questions: Did Freya need coffee? Was Louis coming for dinner? Had she approved next month's author event?

Those questions grounded Freya more effectively than speculation ever could. She had once awakened believing she occupied the epilogue of someone else's novel. Now she had companies, colleagues, friends, and responsibilities that existed whether or not any hidden system understood them. The more complicated the research became, the more valuable those ordinary anchors felt.

Louis understood this too, although his instinct remained protective. Whenever a new name or technical term appeared, he quietly asked Derek to verify whether it created a security risk. Freya no longer objected to reasonable precautions. She only objected when protection threatened to become control. Louis had become much better at recognizing the difference.

That evening they discussed the development over dinner. Freya summarized the evidence in plain language and deliberately removed every dramatic phrase that was not necessary. Louis listened, asked two questions, and then changed the subject to work. Years earlier, silence between them had felt like distance. Now the ability to leave a mystery unfinished for the night felt like trust.

Before bed, Freya opened her private notebook. She wrote three headings: KNOWN, POSSIBLE, UNKNOWN. The known section was always the shortest. The possible section was usually irritatingly long. The unknown section had once frightened her, but it no longer did.

Unknown did not mean destined. It did not mean supernatural. It did not even mean dangerous. It simply meant they had not reached the answer yet.

Freya closed the notebook and placed it in the drawer. Somewhere, the secured manuscript still contained hundreds of future chapter headings. She had no intention of reading them. Whatever came next would arrive

For now, she preferred the version of tomorrow that had no title.